Where is valles marineris located

Other parallel lines found in the area could possibly be interpreted as faults. It gets its name from the River Ganges in South Asia. The Eos Chamsa is found in the southern part of Valles Marineris. The eastern end of this canyon has a large area of streamlined bars and longitudinal striations. Some scientists believe these may be stream-carved plateau deposits from material transported and deposited by some form of flowing fluid, possibly water.

Chryse region The plains of Chryse are most well known for being the successful landing site of the Viking 1 lander as well as the Pathfinder spacecraft. The area was named after a far-off island rich in gold. Privacy policy About Marspedia Disclaimers.

Navigation menu. Guest Personal tools Log in Request account. Namespaces Page Discussion. Views View View source History. Our Wikis Lunarpedia Spacepedia. Concepts :. Hazards :. A closer look at it shows that several landslides have occurred here, with each now slide lying on top of the previous ones. As examples on Earth show, landslides can travel great distances, especially when the debris contains trapped water or air to lower friction. Scientists think it likely that even the thin air of Mars would have contributed to this slide's remarkable run.

Similar, if shorter, landslides lie throughout most of Valles Marineris, and helped to widen the canyon as it developed. Leaves of History. The Valles Marineris story involves more than just erosion, however. In places such as Melas Chasma seen here and in Candor Chasma and Ophir Chasma, the valley floor is piled deep with sedimentary deposits. Geologists call these the interior layered deposits.

The origin - and nature - of these materials is perhaps the biggest mystery involving Valles Marineris. In places Hebes Chasma, for example the layers are stacked thick enough to reach almost to the valley's rim.

They display eroded ledges and benches, buttes and mesas. In some places they have been covered by landslide debris. Where do the layers come from? The flat-lying, uncontorted layers suggest the deposits accumulated in a geologically quiet environment. This points to sources such as volcanic ash falling from the sky, or sediments piling up in a lake or large body of standing water.

But if these are lakebed deposits, where the sediment originated - and how it got into the valley - remain unknown. Another enigma involves how wet martian history has been. The bottom of Ganges Chasma, a part of Valles Marineris, contains exposures of olivine-rich basalt. Olivine, a greenish mineral, weathers quickly into other forms when exposed to water. Its existence in Ganges suggests that the valley may have seen relatively little water over its history.

But in other portions of the canyon system, such as Candor Chasma, scientists have detected clay minerals. These are evidence for extensive weathering of rocks and debris by water. Moreover, the water was less acidic than that which made the rocks found in Meridiani Planum by the Mars rover Opportunity. The upward rushing liquid broke down the edges of the fractures, enlarging them and washing away more of the ground while flowing past.

Signs of flooding are especially apparent at the eastern end, in the mesas and hills known as chaotic terrain. Rushing water poured through channels into the lowlands, carving a series of channels. Scientists do not yet know whether the flooding took place over a short span of time, or whether one overwhelming flood was accompanied by several smaller flooding events.

At the same time, canyons were slowly widened over smaller scales as seeping groundwater carried rock and sediment away in smaller quantities. Landslides also helped to enlarge the features, sometimes traveling as far as 60 miles km.

Lava flows and ash falling from the nearby volcanoes may also have played a role in forming the intricate feature. Glaciers probably helped with the carving. Signs of acid-rock interactions in Valles Marineris suggest that giant ice formations may have helped to carve at least some of the extensive network of channels. Deposits of the mineral jarosite suggest formation by ice rather than by puddles of water.

The large canyon system was discovered in by its namesake, NASA's Mariner 9 spacecraft, the first satellite to orbit another planet. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more!

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